Dot It Restaurant Fulfillment, which specializes in both front-of and back-of the house restaurant necessities, has a new green product line for restaurants. The line consists of packaging options for items, like sandwiches. There’s also pastry bags, hot-food storage options and hot cup utilities. All of the storage options are made from plant based ingredients, rather than synthetic, or oil-based ones. The food storage line is part of the Planglow U.S. product line. Another is the Labellogic live line. This line uses devices to print customizable labels, that can be used for barcodes, allergy alerts, logos, etc.

Key Takeaways:

• Dot It Restaurant Fulfillment is a purveyor of restaurant necessities for the front and back of the house.
• The company’s new Planglow USA line also has a line of labeling products, usable with devices, such as mobile phones.
• The labeling products are customizable and can be used to create printed logos, allergy alerts, bar codes and more.

“Dot It Restaurant Fulfillment announces the addition of the environmentally friendly Planglow USA product line which is made from plant-based materials and not oil-based plastics.”

Read more: http://www.restaurantnews.com/dot-it-announces-new-planglow-usa-product-line-060418/

Latinos are becoming an increasingly important part of the American population. This means that food outlets that want to cater to their needs should be ready. The author of this article focuses on how fast-food and fast-casual outlets can do this and gives three suggestions they could implement. One suggestion is that they should prepare their food to be healthy and as if homemade. He contends that Latinos are very conscious of how a food is made and do not disturb themselves about calorie counts. He recommends adding freshness to a cuisine such as using fresh herbs or even sliced Chile peppers. Also, another recommendation is that they should settle for a hybrid Latino cuisine mixed with traditional American preparation. An example of this is California cuisine that is mixed with Mexican tradition to create a haute Mexican cuisine. Lastly, he suggests the designing of interesting menu items that stand apart using new or delicious ingredients.

Key Takeaways:

• Los Angeles is leading the California pack when it comes to infusing its cuisine with Latin flavor.
• Chefs are more frequently going to Latin cuisine when designing dishes for their fine-dining restaurants.
• When it comes to Latin food, there’s more of a focus on making food from scratch than there is on calorie content.

“Central and South American cuisines incorporate a dizzying variety of novel and delicious ingredients, and all it takes is a careful focus on a few ingredients or dishes to devise interesting menu items that stand apart.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/marc-halperin/3-surprising-ways-explore-latin-american-cuisine

Retirement investment is a much-touted way to try and pad what is becoming a thinner and thinner shelled egg for retiring Americans. No one denies that investments can help. The can augment a retirement plan to the benefit of the retiree. A diversified investment portfolio can help prevent losses accrued from risky ventures. All true. But, an investment adviser, or a financial planner that offers specific fiduciary advice is one kind of entity, one that offers advice, regardless of sales initiative.

Unfortunately, the line gets significantly blurred when investment brokers put themselves in the spot of advisers, solely due to the fact that they are in the position to sell stock. Brokers have walked this blurry and unsatisfactory line for a long time, and apparently are quite happy to go on doing so, besides being irate at the idea that the CFP, or the certified financial planners board, wishes to hold them to a higher standard that separates sales from advisory capacity. If this higher standard ever gets the wider implementation it deserves that would mark the last day that brokers could mislead the public with terminology like ‘retirement specialists.’

Key Takeaways:

• TVision provides fast food restaurants with very useful viewer metrics, as they yearly track which brands and spots got the most television viewer attention.
• A complex eyes-to-screen attention metric, called a CAS, is used to find out which ads are winning the watch wars.
• Fast Food ads that have done really well, according to this metric, include Arby’s and Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and Domino’s.

“These five brands are leading the competition for consumer’s attention.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/marketing-promotions/which-quick-service-restaurants-are-winning-tv-ads

Gone are the days when franchisees, whether large or small, bemoan not having access to data that shows the impact of their ad spending. Advertising measurements have made those worries obsolete. There are two options available for franchisees today and each franchisee can choose which can fit into its goals. First, they could use verified store-visitation data. This involves getting the statistics of what number of customers visited a store that were exposed to its ads. Google and Facebook have tools that make this possible. This option is especially attractive to small franchisees. The second is credit card swipe data. This involves taking anonymized or aggregated data from credit card swipes, loading it into an offline/online data onboarding system and then measuring how many people saw ads and then made an actual purchase. Large franchisees would be wont to use this using reputable agencies or technology firms. Whatever choice is chosen, measuring ad impact is now better than in the history of marketing and advertising.

Key Takeaways:

• One of the hurdles faced by franchise owners is the worry that any advertising they put out is actually benefiting their competition.
• Nonetheless, there are ways for franchise owners to ascertain if visual ads have had an impact on their store’s customer-base.
• Facebook has tracking options and furthermore credit swipes linked to online data and profiles is also a good way of ascertaining who saw an ad and followed through with a purchase.

“Soon you will be able to measure every dollar of your digital advertising.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/outside-insights/why-digital-media-first-franchisee-friendly-medium

Because food trucks are often new, small businesses without a preexisting corporate identity or public profile, it is important to define your trucj’s Brand early, often and clearly. Note that this does NOT mean making up a contrived brand — the best brands involve authentic representation of the style, aesthetic, values and ideas that really do make your truck and its crew unique. This brand should be captured and made concrete in a mission statement. Design help — whether from a professional or via ancrowdsourcing resource can also be invaluable, as consumers have to find your design appealing to even bother with looking at your food.

Key Takeaways:

• A good brand should be an authentic and honest presentation of your truck’s aesthetic, values and personality.
• It is important to capture your brand and your vision for the truck in a concrete, long term mission statement that expresses who/what you want the truck and its crew to be.
• Getting the help of either a professional visual designer or crowdfunding a design can be a great way to improve your truck’s visual appeal.

“Menu or vibe, your truck is your best form of advertising.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/outside-insights/branding-food-trucks-definitive-guide

Food alternatives are becoming more common, and the Restaurant News Resources lists five different ways eateries are becoming more accommodating. For vegetarians, there are new plant based imitation meat dishes, and for those who must eat gluten free, there are progresses made with any bread products. For vegans, there are panko based “breadcrumbs” and for those who are looking for fun nutritional options, beets are becoming more popular and there are sparkling teas that offer a caffeine boost without the cash.

Key Takeaways:

• Alternate food options are becoming more prevalent in dining out.
• Particular emphasis are being placed on vegan and vegetarian diets.
• Healthy eating in general is something the younger generation is leaning towards.

“This root vegetable with superfood powers is making inroads, especially with millennial consumers. Used in everything, from lattes to smoothies to salsa, manufacturer Love Beets says the veggie promotes heart health, prenatal care and exercise performance, giving it universal appeal. It’s also USDA certified organic, non-GMO and kosher.”

Read more: https://www.restaurantnewsresource.com/article99955.html

Presently, it is not legal in New York for restaurants to tack a surcharge on to patron’s bills, but that could change in the near future. Over 200 restaurants have submitted a written request to Mayor Bill de Blasio asking for his support on lifting the ban on restaurants to charge a fully disclosed fee to diners. According to the New York City Hospitality Alliance, this would reduce regulatory burdens on restaurants and help them to remain financially solvent. In 2016, a proposed bill focused on lifting the ban failed to gain any momentum in the New York legislature.

Key Takeaways:

• This notice about the surcharge was originally released by the NYC Hospitality Alliance.
• Owners of eateries are worried about how they will cover the extra costs, even with menu prices rising.
• Diners are looking forward to this change due to their overall bill ending up being a smaller portion.

“The idea is that tacking on a surcharge keeps the list price of dishes lower, a way to offset increasing costs while making it seem like prices haven’t gone up significantly.”

Read more: https://www.restaurantnewsresource.com/article99559.html

Chatbots are becoming an increasingly vital part of customer service that handling routine interactions and common questions, freeing up staff for other tasks or to deal with more complicated issues. These bots are especially important in customer interactions via text, a medium that customers increasingly favor for its convenience, speed, and lack of need to wait on hold. It’s only logical that more and more restaurants are using chat it’s to answer questions, set reservations and take food orders. Although this trend started with delivery and takeout restaurants, it has potentially major implications for the industry as a whole.

Key Takeaways:

• According to the Gartner Group, by 2020, 85% of business-to-customer relationships will be managed without direct human interaction.
• Chatbots are playing a very important role across many industries, in part, because they offer less intrusive opportunities to engage with customers.
• One example of using chatbots in a meaningful manner is Domino’s now accepts delivery orders via Facebook Messenger with a simple emoji.

“Given that customer retention and loyalty is at the core of any service-based business, it is paramount for restaurants to fulfill and exceed expectations when it comes to guest service. Everything from running marketing campaigns, their website to online and offline services is a means to attaining the very goal of impeccable service.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/outside-insights/chatbots-restaurants-redefining-customer-experience

Workweek regulations are becoming hard for restaurants, bars, and vendors who have a hard time predicting business in upcoming months. Fortunately, there are many ways to go around these standards. You need to ensure that you create a schedule that is somewhat flexible, so that if someone needs to call out or switch a shift, this is still a possibility without breaking any rules or regulations. As long as you become knowledgeable about the system, you will be able to work it in your favor.

Key Takeaways:

• These laws are especially hard for food industry workers due to them not being able to readily predict their future demand levels.
• If a company has undergone a wage increase, there will most likely be workweek regulations following.
• These laws were initially put into place for part-time workers to know their work hours ahead of time.

“Fair workweek regulations, also known as predictive scheduling laws, are cropping up across major cities.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/finance/how-get-ahead-fair-workweek-regulations